


Raspberry Ripple

by nimsayee



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, First Kiss, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, graphic depiction of ice cream, hopefully, i don't want to know what that says about me, i mean its mutual but half of this is just lance having a meltdown over how pretty keith looks, rated t for cursing, theres just so much fucking pining, they just kith, why did my first fic have to be voltron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27507499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nimsayee/pseuds/nimsayee
Summary: “Are you okay ?”Lance wasn’t stupid. He knew better than to stare directly into the sun, alright ? But he also knew that Keith was looking at him, all soft smiles and flushed face and messy hair. It framed his face in just the right way, and in his haze Lance thought that maybe, maybe looking at the sun would be less overwhelming than looking at him.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 69





	Raspberry Ripple

**Author's Note:**

> yes im writing klance in 2020. this is probably ooc i havent seen voltron in so long. yes i did the thing where the summary is the first paragraph im not even sorry

“Are you okay ?”

Lance wasn’t stupid. He knew better than to stare directly into the sun, alright ? But he also knew that Keith was looking at him, all soft smiles and flushed face and messy hair framing his face in just the right way, and in his haze Lance thought that maybe, maybe looking at the sun would be less overwhelming than looking at him. It wasn’t. Now his vision was clouded with specks of black. He was kind of glad it was, because Keith was looking at him with a worried look on his face that made his glare look a little softer and his eyebrows bunch up a little and Lance didn’t know what he would do if he could see it clearly.

God, he needed to get it together. This was the first time he saw Keith in a while and he really didn’t want to ruin it. Since his friend had taken over his mother’s business, their meetings had become scarce. Lance was proud of him, of course, but he couldn’t help but feel the void the other boy had left in his life. I mean they were best friends, for fuck’s sake. They had practically grown up together, and when you spend that much time in a person’s presence, reality can feel a little bit uncanny without them around. In a way, Keith was so present in Lance’s life that his absence made it lose some of its essence.

“Hey, are you listening ?”

Shit. He was zoning out. Way to fix the situation, Lance !

“Um, it’s just that you were staring, and uh,” Keith stumbled over his words. “Are you okay ?”

He looked genuinely concerned. Lance sighed. If he could punch himself in the face right now he would do it with no hesitation. Sadly whoever designed the human body clearly didn’t want him to do that. At least that spared him yet another embarrassing display. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just thought looking directly at the sun was a good idea apparently ? It wasn’t. I was blinded for a solid minute.” Keith chuckled. Lance patted himself on the back. Nice save.

It took everything in his will to not stare at Keith again, but the way the soft afternoon sunlight made his eyes glow was making that really, really hard. It really should be illegal for someone to look this good, what the hell ? Lance averted his gaze, this time not towards the sun - he had learned his lesson. A comfortable silence settled between them. See, this is what he loved about spending time with his best friend. Sometimes, just being in each other’s presence was enough.

They had chosen to meet at a park, maybe get some ice cream, but frankly, sitting in a wooden bench was starting to get a little uncomfortable. 

“Hey,” Lance called out. “Do you want to get something to eat?” Keith turned to face him. He continued. “Allura told me about this really cool ice cream place and I wanted to try it out with you”. 

The dark haired boy’s eyes lit up at the mention of ice cream. “Yeah, that sounds good”. 

Lance couldn’t hold back a smile.

\-------------------

“They don’t have cookies and cream ?” Lance yelled. Everyone in the cramped ice cream parlor turned around. Keith tried muffling his laughter in his hands, failing miserably. Lance blushed. He was going to go insane. “Why are you laughing ? Is my pain funny to you ? Are you amused by my anguish ? Oh, woe is me, how I’ve been betrayed!” He lifted his hands to his forehead, pretending to faint. He was speaking on instinct, the part of his brain that was supposed to filter his speech seemingly on vacation. His dramatic act seemed to fulfill its goal though, because Keith’s laughter grew louder. Oh god, people were definitely staring at them now. 

In the corner of his eye, Lance could see a man in an apron heading towards him – probably someone who works here, by the looks of it. He took a moment to internally curse the decision making area of his brain as the man’s stern glare settled on him. "Can I help you ?” He said, dry and grating, and it sent sirens wailing in Lance’s mind. He was clearly not happy. Lance fumbled with his jacket. Speaking felt almost painful. “Y-yeah ! I was just about to order” 

A few minutes and an awkward ice cream order later, Lance was now faced with yet another challenge. See, there were instances in life where being forgetful was funny, like when you pull up to school with mismatched socks and you spend the day laughing about it with your friends. There were other situations, however, where it was not. Like when you’ve already caused a commotion at an ice cream parlor and you realize, as you’re standing first in line at checkout, that you’ve forgotten your wallet at home.

Needless to say, they were kicked out.

Keith was laughing really hard. Like, full on laughter. The kind that’s loud and sincere, the kind that sounds like wind chimes and birds chirping and made Lance’s insides feel like they were about to burst. If there were any butterflies in there, they were pretty violent.

“God-,” Keith wheezed, “ Did that really just happen ?”

Lance didn’t know when he started laughing, but when the other boy was looking at him with crescent-shaped eyes and flaring cheeks, It was pretty difficult not to laugh along. It was enticing. He really missed this, he thought, as he clutched his sides.

\-------------------

Once they had calmed down, they’d decided to spend the last remaining hours of daylight at their old childhood woodhouse – a cabin they’d built with Keith’s father when they were around ten. It had been a funny sight to see, two preteens gathering all of their strength to carry a few woodplanks. Mr. Kogane did all the work, that was a given, but their cabin in the woods still made pride blossom in their little ten year-old hearts. 

Honestly, Lance was surprised they could still fit inside. Sure, he had to crouch down to enter, but he was settled pretty comfortably now, sitting next to Keith on the pillows they had set on the floor so long ago. He felt slightly flustered by the thin distance separating them, but again, this was no news. Lance had pretty much spent the entire day pining. Or maybe his entire life. He had always harbored a certain fondness for Keith, he thinks. He remembered pillow fights and spilling lemonade and shared comic books on summer evenings. Whispered secrets maybe, or comforting words muttered in the safety of their little wooden house. 

He was about to get swept up in nostalgia when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He gasped. 

“Why do you have an ice cream cone in your hand ?” 

Keith turned to him with a puzzled expression. 

“I bought it earlier ?”

Lance blinked once, then twice. He was so lost. His friend caught on – Lance wore his emotions on his sleeve. Keith sighed. “I paid for it. I bought it while you were making a scene.” He stopped for a second, humoring a thought. He grinned. (never a good sign) “ It was really funny, you were-“

“Oh god, don’t remind me,” Lance cut him off. “That wasn’t my proudest moment. But you mean to tell me that you were eating ice cream all this time and I didn’t even notice ? That's hard to believe.”

He was a broken man with a painful lack of ice cream in his digestive system. 

“…I’m stealthy ?” Keith said. He really wasn’t helping his case here.  
“You can have the cone.” He offered. “I don’t usually eat it anyway.”

Lance would give his friend a lecture on the importance of the cone and its role in the balance of an ice cream, the stark contrast between cold and crunchy, but he had already embarrassed himself enough today. So he kept quiet and ate the cone.

They fell back into their usual banter, Keith complaining about his family (lovingly), and Lance going on a rant and getting weirdly passionate about something dumb. The dark haired boy would always watch him fondly and listen to him all the way through, even if the subject was something like ice cream cone erasure in the modern era. He’d always get so heated, it was sort of endearing.

“You have something on your face,” He pointed out, as his friend stopped rambling. He had noticed it a while ago, but he didn’t want to interrupt. Lance jolted upright, lifting his hands to his face. 

“Huh ? Where ?”

Keith leaned closer, grabbing Lance’s wrist and pulling it away from his face to wipe the crumb himself. “There,” he whispered, and his words hung in the air.

And this was when Lance started to short-circuit. They were so close he could feel Keith’s breath hitching and count his freckles. He could still the phantom touch of the other boy’s hand against his cheek, grazing his bottom lip ever so lightly. Lance shivered. It had felt electric, and he wanted more. They locked eyes, and he almost let out a squeak at the intensity of Keith’s gaze. _Hungry_. It was hungry and loving and longing for more and Lance was going to go insane.

He wasn’t sure who closed the gap between them, or who interlaced their fingers. He just knew Keith’s lips were on his, and he was clutching onto his hand for dear life. Lance was a goner. There it was. The closure to eighteen years of pining. He was kissing Keith Kogane, and it felt exhilarating and terrifying all at once. He tasted sweet, and Lance instantly recognized the tell-tale taste of Raspberry Ripple –Keith’s favourite ice cream flavor (Lance remembered, he always did). It was clumsy, teeth clashing and lungs gasping for air, but it was gentle and mellow and trusting and he honestly couldn’t have asked for more. 

They moved apart, out of breath. Keith was smiling at him, all reddened lips and creasing eyes, and this time, Lance didn't look away.

**Author's Note:**

> can you tell i struggled. can you also tell i don't know american ice cream flavors. also i mentioned the word ice cream like. 17 times in this why did i even do that. hope that wasnt too bad bc honestly i had fun. klance stans how does it feel like living in post-s8 drought. imma be honest i only watched 3 eps of vld and i only wrote this bc my friend was into it in 2018 and asked me to write a childhood friend au klance fic and i wrote it like 2 years later. i really feel like the characterization was off but its ok it was fun writing a dramatic lance. ok ill shut up now byeee


End file.
